Why Netflix is now booking theaters to screen new films
When Netflix went into the business of making movies with big stars and Alist directors, it found itself faced with a new challenge: the handling of the Hollywood ego.
For a company with roots in Silicon Valley, it has not always been easy to accommodate the rules and customs of the entertainment capital, where the red carpet is more important than any algorithm.
For one thing, the streaming giant has not gone along with the old way of releasing movies. Most of its films make their debuts on the streaming service itself, rather than in movie theaters. Even its Oscar contenders have limited theatrical runs, because Netflix has not been willing to book them in theaters run by the major chains, which insist on lengthy periods of exclusivity, sometimes as long as 90 days.
That strategy is nice for the Los Gatos company’s 158 million subscribers, but it has led to some grumbling among cinephiles and some filmmakers.
Now, with the 2020 Academy Awards campaign under way, Netflix has gone to unusual lengths to please the auteurs and their fans, engineering splashy theatrical plans for a pair of Oscar contenders, Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” and Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story.” At the same time, the company is trying to acquire a historic repertory theater in Los Angeles.
Starting Nov. 1, Scorsese’s $159 million crime epic, which received strong reviews after its premiere at the New York Film Festival last month, will be shown at the Belasco Theater, a 1,015seat Broadway theater on West 44th Street. The release will have the trappings of a bona fide Broadway production: eight shows a week, dark on Mondays — and the film’s title in lights outside the theater. The ticket price is an unBroadwaylike $15.
Unlike some other current Broadway houses, which served as movie theaters many decades ago, the 112yearold Belasco has never shown films. One of the stars of “The Irishman” is no stranger to the setting, though: Al Pacino won his first Tony Award for “Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie?” It’s a drugaddiction drama that had 48 performances, in
cluding previews, at the Belasco in 1969.
Baumbach’s film, starring Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson, is heading to the Paris Theater, the last singlescreen theater in New York. Developer Sheldon Solow closed it in August after 71 years of operation. Netflix will reopen the theater for “Marriage Story” on Nov. 6, and the film will start streaming Dec. 6. The company is trying to work out a longterm lease that would make the Paris a prime New York venue for Netflix films for years to come.
Netflix is also in latestage negotiations to acquire Grauman’s Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. Now owned by the nonprofit American Cinematheque, the theater, which opened in 1922, has been deemed a Los Angeles landmark. Netflix has said it would use the Egyptian for premieres and events during the week, leaving the weekends free for the Cinematheque’s programming of historic films and contemporary arthouse fare.
Despite Netflix’s pledge to allow the Cinematheque to have a hand in running the
Egyptian, film preservationists and community activists have come out against the proposed deal. More than 2,500 people have signed a petition calling for a halt to the possible sale and demanding that the Cinematheque hold a public meeting to describe its plans in detail.
“The future of the American Cinematheque and the Egyptian Theatre should be determined in an open conversation that includes the members and a qualified Executive Director, and not in secret by the board of directors and Netflix,” the petition reads, in part.
Despite the naysayers, the three projects provide Netflix with an argument against those who portray it as somehow anticinema.
“It all feels very positive,” said Eugene
Hernandez, deputy director of film at Lincoln Center and a copublisher of Film Comment magazine. “Netflix is putting its money where its mouth is. They are not only financing and supporting these auteur directors, but they are also bringing them to audiences in a theatrical environment.”
Netflix, which declined to comment, made 55 films last year, not counting documentaries and animated movies. It has been criticized by directors and cineastes who say moviegoers should have an easier time finding its films on the big screen. The company’s biggest Oscar winner, Alfonso Cuarón’s “Roma,” had an exclusive threeweek run in theaters last year before it started streaming. Before that, Netflix’s presence in theaters was minimal.
The company negotiated for months with large cinema chains to work out a plan to blanket the country with “The Irishman,” only to hit an impasse. Major exhibitors like AMC Theatres, Regal Cinemas and Cinemark have not agreed to Netflix’s preference to have its prestige films in theaters for brief engagements before making them available for streaming. Smaller chains and independent movie theaters have been willing to go along with the strategy.
Jeff Blake, former chairman of worldwide marketing and distribution for Sony Pictures, said Netflix’s attentiongrabbing moves into the theater world won’t do much for the company’s bottom line, adding: “But it’s certainly a fun way to qualify for the Academy Awards.”
To be eligible for an Oscar, a film must play for one week at a theater in Los Angeles. In addition to their engagements at the Belasco and the Paris, “The Irishman” and “Marriage Story” will have limited runs at select theaters.